✈Worldwide Wednesdays: Weird Sports/Events - #3

Hemp Olympix - Australia

The Hemp Olympix - (yes, there's an olympic for weed), is held every year as part of the annual Mardi Gras Festival in Nimbin, on the north coast of New South Wales, Australia.  Events include joint rolling (speed and artistic), bong throwing, iron growers person event and the NEW Hemp Javelin.   

Bong Throw and Yell Rules.
Bong has to be released behind the throwing line.
Maximum run up 10 steps.
Yell must contain at least one sound.

Speed Joint Rolling Rules

Complete a 3 paper joint with cardboard filter as fast as possible. Contestants are allowed to mull up and pre roll their cardboard filter. Papers must remain in packet until starting whistle.


3 fastest progress to final.



Artistic Joint Rolling Rules

Roll the most orginal and beautiful, with as many papers as you like with-in 10 minutes.



Winning joint



Judged by crowd applause.

3 best to final.



Source:  nimbinaustralia.com/hempolympix2000/

Land Diving - Vanuatu



A diver prepared to jump.
Land diving is performed
 without safety equipment.
pic by Wiki user Tbom824

Naghol or N’gol or land diving is a ritual performed by the men of the southern part of Pentecost Island, Vanuatu. The precursor to bungee jumping, men jump off of wooden towers around 20 to 30 metres (66 to 98 ft) high, with two tree vines wrapped around the ankles. Land diving is done without any safety equipment. The tradition has developed into a tourist attraction.  According to the Guinness World Records, the g-force experienced by those at their lowest point in the dive is the greatest experienced in the non-industrialized world by humans.

The origin of naghol is described in a legend of a woman who was dissatisfied with her husband, Tamalie (or some variation of the name). It is sometimes claimed that the woman was upset that her husband was too vigorous regarding his sexual wants, so she ran away into the forest. Her husband followed her, so she climbed a banyan tree. Tamalie climbed after her, and so she tied lianas to her ankles and jumped and survived. Her husband jumped after her, but did not tie lianas to himself, which caused him to plummet and die. The men performed the original land diving so that they would not be tricked again.

The Ritual
Though the majority of the islanders are Christian, they still adhere to the ancient beliefs. Before dawn on the day of the ceremony, the men undergo a ritual wash, anoint coconut oil on themselves, and decorate their bodies. The males wear boar tusks around their necks. The men wear traditional penis sheaths called namba, and the women wear traditional grass dresses and are bare-breasted. Only the men are allowed to dive, but the dancing women provide mental support. Around 10 to 20 men in a village will jump.



Land diving is a rite of

passage for boys. Boys jump at lower platforms.

pic by Wiki user TBom824

 For boys, land diving is a rite of passage. After the boys are circumcised at the age of around seven to eight, the boys can participate in the ritual. When a boy is ready to become a man, he land dives in the presence of his elders. His mother holds a favourite childhood item, for example, a piece of cloth. After completing the dive, the item is thrown away, demonstrating that the boy has become a man.

"A very interesting event though I feel terrible for those young boys going into manhood... If I were a boy, I'd want to stay one like that forever if I'd have to go through circumcision and this, lol"


Read more at Wikipedia



Canal Jumping - Netherlands
Canal Jumping or Fierljeppen (lit. far-leaping) is a traditional sport of the Frisians and of the Dutch. Ljeppen is West Frisian for "to leap". It is a fine example of the close relationship between the Frisian and English languages.

The sport involves a long pole and a body of water. The pole is between 8 and 13 m long and has a flat round plate at the bottom to prevent it from sinking into the muddy river or canal bottom.
A jump consists of a sprint to the pole (polsstok), jumping and grabbing it, then climbing to the top of the pole while trying to control its forward and lateral movements over a body of water, and finishing by landing on a sand bed opposite to the starting point.



The sport is believed to have originated with farmers who used poles to leap over small water drainage channels to access different plots of land. In East Frisia this sport is known as Pultstock-Jumping. Today the sport is primarily practiced for fun or to entertain tourists, but there still is an official annual National Fierljepping Manifestation (NFM) in the Netherlands, and championships are contested in six leagues and numerous clubs.

Source:  Wikipedia